Keys for the Eagles Game

The third preseason game is already upon us. In the past you’d hear a lot of talk that the third preseason game is the most important one- where the starters play for much of the game and we start to get a feel for how the team was shaping up.

Well, that was then and this is 2008, where we’re not even sure if Tom Brady will take the field (I’m guessing no) and fans are so used to winning that even preseason losses are no longer tolerated.

When seeing your team pound the competition is the norm anything less is almost cause for panic. But there’s no need to panic, Patriots Nation. We’re a little more than two weeks away from putting the Super Bowl loss behind us.

So Keys for tomorrow night? This gets tougher every week of the preseason, especially since I feel like we’ve got more questions than answers even after two games, but let’s take a shot anyways…

• Destroy Asante Samuel. I seem to recall heading into the 2006 season (yes, just two years ago) no one was sure if Asante was even a starting caliber NFL cornerback. Then he had a great 2006 season, was franchised in 2007, held out, came back, had a pretty good year and then bolted the Pats for the highest bidder. From his dropped interception in the Super Bowl to his comments last week that Belichick has no personality, I don’t need any more reason to root for him to get lit up Friday. There’s a special list of Pats who have taken less money to remain a part of this dynasty, Asante isn’t one of them. And now he’s the enemy

• Defense tighten-up. Okay, they were flat against the Bucs last week. It was hot, Jon Gruden clearly spent the entire offseason game planning for it and the result was fairly disconcerting for Pats fans. This week it would be nice to see the first team D redeem themselves with a couple early stops on the Eagles first team offense. Especially with Donvan McNabb and Brian Westbrook expecting to see significant minutes. The Eagles are a good team, probably better than the Bucs, so shutting them down would shut a lot of the critics up.

• I’d mention Matt Cassel and Chad Jackson here but I’m just sick of talking about them. Neither will be a vital piece of the 2008 puzzle (Belichick-willing), so I’m just going to get off their backs.

• Kevin O’Connell’s continued development. Everyone was quick to throw a “WTF” when the Patriots took O’Connell so early in the ’08 draft. Well it doesn’t look quite so WTF now, does it? Matt Gutierrez should get some time as well, hopefully someone can lead a touchdown drive or two. Not that it matters, Brady’s foot will be fine by opening day.

• Win. That might sound kinda dumb given how I’ve already stated the preseason doesn’t mean much. But for the sake of Patriots Nation a win would be a good way to remind everyone to chill. Historically, the Pats have gone 4-1 over the past five years in the usually-important game three of the preseason. Though part of me enjoys the widespread panic of when the Pats don’t look like the Pats and the fans and media “pundits” alike start to wonder if this is the beginning of the end for this dynasty. It isn’t. But it’s fun to watch them pretend it is.